Tax line sale to be held online this year in Grand County

Starting this year, the Grand County tax collector is conducting the annual tax lien sale exclusively on the Internet.

Lack of space in the Grand County administration building during a national election year was the primary reason County Treasurer Christina Whitmer said the 2008 sale is being launched onto the Worldwide Web.

Grand County now joins the ranks of several other Colorado counties, such as Adams, Denver, Arapahoe and Weld that host bidding capabilities online.

The tax sale, conducted by RealAuction.com, does not cost the county and saves at least $1,000 in costs in staff overtime, supplies and meals associated with hosting a traditional tax lien auction, Whitmer said.

An estimated 800 properties will be advertised in this year’s sale, which officially starts online at 12 a.m., Oct. 2, and continues until 4 p.m., Nov. 7.

Investors will bid against themselves and will not know what others are bidding.

“People can bid for more than 30 days, bid on weekends and at nights, any time they want,” Whitmer said. “It also will assist the buyers in keeping the premiums not as high as in the past.”

The minimum starting bid is the amount equal to the unpaid taxes, interest, penalties and fees. The amount over this is called the premium.

According to the official auction Web site http://www.grandtaxsale.com, certificates up for bid, a list of which will be available Oct. 2, are divided into groups called “batches” consisting of many certificates each, designed to make the bidding process more manageable. The certificates advertised are sold individually.

For this year, interest accrued throughout tax lien certificates is 11 percent.

To take part in the online auction, each investor must place an electronic deposit equal to 10 percent of the total dollar amount of certificates anticipated in winning.

A training class hosted by the office of the Grand County Treasurer is set for Oct. 8 at 2:30 p.m. at the Grand County Administration Building, and participants are encouraged to attend to learn more about the online auction process and to ask questions.

For more information about tax lien sales in general, visit http://www.grandtaxsale.com and click on the Training Link “Colorado Tax Certificate Process.”